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University of California Merced

With an annual mean temperature of zero °C, Ulaanbaatar is considered the coldest capital in the world. This is not its only superlative, however, as the Mongolian city is also said to be the one with the worst air pollution worldwide. Around half of the country’s population of three million lives in the capital, where they get their electricity from outdated coal power plants and their heat from coal stoves. Because Mongolia is also known as the “Land of the Blue Sky” due to its more than 250 sunny days per year, setting up solar thermal systems seems to be an ideal measure to combat the high air pollution levels. Ordinary solar water heaters, however, would hardly be able withstand the extremely cold winter weather with daily temperatures of between minus 10 and 40°C.